Doubt Thou The Stars
by acertainzest
Summary: Summer 2015 kink meme prompt: "Emotional sex during the night of always. So maybe their 2nd or 3rd round. She tells him how much he means to her etc. So some cute, fluffy, hot smut."


_**Author's Note:** This was the first Castle fanfic I wrote, last year after binge-watching all 7 seasons in 6 weeks. I may have been a little loopy. ;) I just realized I hadn't uploaded this story here, so here it is. Please be kind to it._

* * *

Lightning flashes again as Kate lies with her eyes closed letting the sweat dry on her skin. She is tired, so tired from a long emotional few days, but her body is buzzing and she knows sleep will be a long time coming, if at all. Her groin still throbs pleasantly from the sex - it isn't enough yet - she wants more, needs more, but first there is a quiet moment to move through. She lets her mind float in it, breathing deeply, hearing him do the same on the bed behind her.

Her body is a confused mess of conflicting sensations, pleasure and pain mingling so thoroughly that she can't figure any of it out. She isn't good at introspection anyway, but she lets herself think quietly about what just happened here. She has imagined sex with Castle so many times, and in her fantasies their first time was sometimes rough and fast and desperate, other times quiet and tender. The reality was an addictive mix of the two and she doesn't know if she'll ever be able to get enough. In the silent darkness behind her eyelids she can take a split second, a heartbeat, to admit to herself that she can't imagine ever wanting anything else.

In her fantasies, sometimes Castle shoves her up against a wall, all hard demanding hands and hot mouth roaming her body so devastatingly that all she can do is cling to him and feel. That fantasy came true tonight. In other fantasies, sometimes she has imagined him touching her with such unbearable reverence that she forgets to breathe - which is what happened tonight when he found his way down between her breasts and stopped in his tracks to pay obeisance to her scar.

But none of her fantasies could hold a candle to the reality of taking Castle by the hand and tugging him into his bedroom - of pulling off her sodden clothing under his heated gaze - of gripping his broad shoulders with both her arms and falling backward onto the bed, letting him land on top of her, all heavy solid weight and warm smooth skin when she pushed her hands under his shirt. She wanted, she just wanted, she just wanted him inside her and with almost no foreplay that's what she got. It was just the way she needed it in that moment, hot and hard and fast. Everything she wanted in the world was his weight pressing her down and his hard heat filling her, his voice cracking as he groaned her name into her shoulder.

It was perfect, but now, as the initial rush of desperate passion cools, she's ready for the rest. Almost ready.

She thinks maybe he has fallen asleep, but when she carefully levers herself up to sit on the edge of the bed, she catches the glint of his eyes in the lamplight. He's watching her, and in the dimness she can't read his expression. She trails her fingertips lightly along his forearm and stands up. A whole collection of aches and pains make themselves known as she takes her weight on her feet, causing her breath to hitch briefly in her throat. There's the pleasant ache in her thighs and between them, but the other hurts from her eventful day are less pleasant and, she knows, will soon be harder to ignore.

Naked, she walks across the room and closes the bathroom door behind her.

In the quiet she uses the toilet, washes her hands. Carefully doesn't look at the mirror. Turns her back to it and slowly lifts her arms over her head, testing. Hisses between her teeth at the pull in her ribs. She stretches out her back methodically, swivels her arms this way and that, finding the angles and places that tug and ache. It's pretty bad, but she has had worse. Tomorrow she will be more sore than she is now.

She brushes her fingers across her collarbone and feels the tiny prickles of abrasions from Castle's stubble. The discomfort doesn't even register as her mind floats back to the sensation of his mouth moving over her skin. Her whole body flushes hot. She's ready for more.

When she opens the door he's propped up on one elbow, waiting. As she walks back into the bedroom the lamplight paints golden across her body and his brow furrows. He sits up fully, looking, and she sighs a little. She doesn't want to do this part.

"Did I...?" He clears his throat, a bit aghast. She hastens to shake her head, glides her fingers over his lips.

"No, no. Not you." Though there are probably some bruises on her thighs that did come from his fingers, but she doesn't mind those. "I, um, from the fight."

"The fight." He studies her, eyebrows up. "You really fought with him? The shooter?"

"I told you...he got away." She sits on the bed beside him, lets her fingers trip across his bare shoulder, down his arm. She really doesn't want to get into the whole story right now. "We fought, he got away. A few bruises. No big deal."

"But I probably..." He trails off, forehead creasing. Guilt seeping out his pores and she feels a mix of affection and frustration. He's thinking something like, _I should have been more gentle,_ silly man.

"No. You didn't hurt me." A breath. "Just the opposite." Comprehension flashes through his eyes and she knows that they both know - she has admitted something. Something powerful. She leans forward and kisses his mouth firmly. Her tongue sliding across his and immediately the heat is back, crackling between them.

"But," he still can't quite let go, "but...Kate-"

"Shh." Impatient now, she shoves at his shoulders, pushing him back onto the bed, leaning down farther to kiss him again, licking across his cheek, biting his chin. "Castle. Don't you think I know what I want?" _I just want you._ "Don't you think I would have stopped you if I needed to?" She pauses and lets him remember. How she gasped his name when he slid into her for the first time. How she wrapped her arms and legs around him and drew him in further. How she breathed "harder...harder" as he drove her into the mattress.

"Okay. Okay." His hands come up, brushing lightly over her ribs, curling up and around her breasts. His thumbs brushing across her nipples. His eyes tracking her as best they can as she presses small kisses along his neck. "So...what do you want now?"

She feels the corners of her mouth turn up. "Oh...I think you know." And dipping down suddenly, she presses her open mouth to the tender skin just below his navel. Castle gasps loudly, his whole body twitching underneath her. His erection springs to life and nudges at her chin. She chuckles softly, ignoring it for the moment, licking a curving path across his hipbone. He clutches at her shoulders, her name spilling from his lips in a breathless string of katekatekate.

She mouths down one thigh and back up the other, petting the planes of his abdomen with her fingertips, her eyes almost closed, just enjoying the sound of his incoherent words and his panting breaths, the way his body vibrates under her mouth and hands. Finally she tilts her head and presses her lips against the tip of his erection, quickly bringing a hand over to hold it still.

He's stopped forming words now, just soft moans full of air and she smiles as she runs her tongue over the head and down the length of the shaft. The noises he makes at that are so enticing, she does it again, adding a twist of her hand for counterpoint. Then she opens her mouth wider and takes him in, sucking softly, her tongue swirling. She looks up at his face as her head bobs slowly down and up again. His eyes are half-closed, staring at her, almost in disbelief. She smiles a little around his shaft, swirls her tongue again, another twist with her hand.

She feels him tensing up, and then his hands are reaching for her, tugging lightly on her shoulders, he's calling her name and she knows he doesn't want this to be over too quickly - she doesn't either - so she lets him slip out of her mouth and slides her body back up the bed.

The first time, she watched him grabbing the condom from the bedside table, so now she knows where to reach and pulls another one out, quickly ripping the package open while he lies there watching her with shining eyes. He watches her roll it onto him and then he gasps again when she throws one long leg over his hips and straddles him. Meeting his eyes, she slowly rubs herself up and down his length, her own breath catching in her throat. God, it feels so good. So right.

She leans forward and puts her lips on his again, just a breath, a feather-light touch but he brings up his hands again and buries them both in her hair, deepening the kiss, pressing his tongue into her mouth, hot and slick against her teeth. She feels him shudder pleasantly when he tastes himself on her. She raises her hips slightly, letting his tip tease against her entrance. Her eyes fall shut as she swallows his moan and smiles. She's so wet, it's all so slippery and hot and gorgeous, his hardness against her swollen folds and suddenly she's done teasing. She just pushes back and he sinks in, drawing an impassioned groan from both their throats.

Abruptly he's pushing on her shoulders, pushing her back even as his hips lift up into hers, and she sees that he wants to see. She marvels at how well they know each other, here on their first night together. She tosses her hair back and smiles down at him, circling her hips slowly. His entire length is buried inside her and she thinks she could probably do this forever if only sunrise would never come.

She leans back, bracing her hands on his legs behind her. His eyes spark with delight - she just knew that was what he wanted, the way the position thrusts her breasts higher, opens the whole column of her body for his perusal. And that's what he is ready for now - the initial surge of lust having been sated, he wants to take his time now and get to know her from top to bottom. She moves leisurely on him, watching him watch her. It's like nothing she has ever felt, this intense examination from someone who has known her and loved her for so long, who is seeing her anew, completing the puzzle.

After watching comes touching, and his hands rise to explore her body, roaming freely as she continues slowly riding him. He's so gentle and careful over the bruises, smoothing the pads of his fingers over them as if he could wipe them away. The light touch makes her whole body shudder. He does the same thing across the long scar on her side, the tiny one between her breasts. Another deep shiver runs through her and then he's lifting himself up slightly, sliding his hands up her arms to her shoulders, tugging, urging her forward again. She leans over him, belly to belly, her breasts pressing against his chest, her hands on the mattress to either side of his head - the change of angle presses his length back against her inner walls, making her cry out softly.

Now Castle sweeps her hair back over her shoulders, watching her face, inches from his, as his hands continue down across her shoulderblades, that same delicate healing touch. He draws spirals down the length of her back with his fingertips and she's trembling continuously now, her whole body tingling in ripples of sensation spreading out from wherever his hands move. She's still moving her hips in rhythm over him, the sweet slick slide of his flesh inside hers as his hands paint pleasure down her spine. He cups her buttocks and squeezes lightly, still watching her face. Holds her like that and presses his hips upward, meeting her movements, pushing himself somehow even farther inside her.

The climax takes her by surprise, rolling over her in waves that seem like they'll never end, like the ocean. Dimly she feels him pushing up into her again and the tremors shaking his own body, his chest vibrating under her as he moans his release.

Panting, she rolls onto the mattress, feeling him slip out of her, keeping her legs tangled with his, letting her head drop onto his chest. He draws a long shuddering breath and kisses her hair, her forehead. His arm comes around her shoulders, holding her close.

"Okay?" he murmurs into the top of her head. She can't help the grin that bursts across her face. Lifts her head so that he can see it.

"Better than okay."

"Yeah?"

"So much better."

"Good," he smiles back. "But I'm not done with you yet." And it's so him - the way he so often is with her - the teasing tone masking the double meaning. The light and the serious in one. The way he tells her how he feels, every day, with every word. She's a little amazed that it took her so long to see it for what it is.

"I certainly hope not." She smiles again as his eyes light up and she knows that he gets it. She lays her head back down on his chest and closes her eyes.


End file.
